Chapter 8

Heath finished fixing the fence, and he loaded the wagon back up. He was mad about doing it alone. He was mad about Nick being mad about Jarrod and putting some of the blame on him for it. He was mad about feeling like a mistrusted outsider again.

The horse that was hitched to the wagon looked over his shoulder at Heath. Heath glared at him. "What, you too?"

Then he realized it was pretty stupid to accuse a horse of blaming him for something.

It was only about two in the afternoon. There was still plenty of work to be done, but Heath wanted to take the wagon back to the house and get his horse instead. In about half an hour he was back at the barn and gave the wagon to Ciego.

"How's it going, Ciego?" Heath asked as he climbed down.

"Oh, I don't know, the excitement!" Ciego said.

"What excitement?" Heath asked.

"I'm not really sure, but Senor Nick and Senor Jarrod rode in here a little over an hour ago, and then Senor Jarrod rode out fast about five minutes later and Senor Nick took off right behind him."

Heath suddenly felt his worry overtake his anger. "Where did they go? To town?"

"Si, they went that way. I think they were heading for trouble."

Heath started for the house. "Ciego, would you saddle my horse and make it fast?"

"Si, Senor Heath."

Heath ran into the house and headed straight upstairs for a fresh shirt. When he came down, he found his mother and Audra in the foyer.

"How long ago did Jarrod and Nick leave?" he asked, finishing buttoning his shirt.

"Maybe an hour," Victoria said. "They've gone to town looking for Barton."

"Was Barton here?"

"I saw him near Father's grave," Audra said.

"Father's grave?"

"He wanted to see it."

Heath said, "I'm going after Nick and Jarrod. I'll try to keep them out of trouble if I can catch them in time."

"Heath, be very careful," Victoria said. "We have no idea what this Barton will do."

"I know," Heath said and kissed his mother. "But I think the bigger question is what will Jarrod and Nick do?"

In a few minutes, Heath was off riding toward Stockton. He had completely forgotten his own complaints in all this. They suddenly seemed petty. If he needed to patch things up with Nick, it could wait until the rest of this settled down. He hurried as fast as he reasonably could, and he worried.

XXXXXXXX

When Heath arrived in town nearly an hour later, he spent some brief time riding the streets, looking for any sign of Jarrod and Nick. Ultimately, he decided to go to the sheriff's office. He hitched his horse there and went in.

Sheriff Madden was there and so was Nick, but not Jarrod. They looked at him and it was clear they were expecting him to be Jarrod.

"Where's Jarrod?" Heath asked.

"I don't know," Nick said. "We split up to search town for Barton, but I never found him. We agreed to meet before either of us approached the man or meet here if we didn't find him."

"Did you check his office?"

Nick nodded. "He wasn't there."

"Mrs. Tate's?"

Nick shook his head. "He's been there and back again. I don't know - "

Jarrod abruptly walked in through the door.

"Where the hell have you been?" Nick blurted out.

"Relax," Sheriff Madden said, putting himself between Nick and Jarrod. "Everybody's here and safe."

"Did you find Barton?" Heath asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "I don't think he's in town."

"Do you think he's gone back out to the ranch?" Nick asked.

"I don't know," Jarrod said, frowning at the floor and thinking.

Nick gave voice to Jarrod's thoughts. "Where else would he go?"

"He could have left the area altogether," Sheriff Madden said.

Jarrod shook his head. "Mrs. Tate said his things are still there. Look, why doesn't one of us stay here and look some more with Fred, and the other two go back to the ranch? If he goes there, I don't want Mother and Audra alone with him."

"I didn't pass him on my way in," Heath said.

"Neither did we, but he could have ducked for cover and dodged us," Nick said. Nick eyed his brothers. "Jarrod, you should go to the ranch. You'd be the best one to talk to him and protect Mother and Audra."

Jarrod nodded. "Heath, why don't you come with me?"

Nick caught the meaning behind Jarrod's suggestion – thanks to Nick, Heath needed some reassurance that he was really a Barkley and part of this family. Nick said, "I'll stay here and look some more with Fred, but I'll be home in – say a couple hours tops."

Heath nodded. "Let's go."

XXXXXXX

At about that time, Victoria answered a knock at the door. She wasn't sure who to expect, but in some way she was not surprised that Jeb Barton was there, holding his hat in his hand. Behind him, Ciego looked concerned, and Victoria knew he had to be because Ciego seldom escorted a guest to the door.

"May I speak with you again?" Barton asked, politely.

Victoria wondered if he would go away if she asked him to. She saw Audra and Silas move up behind her.

"Please," Barton said. "I'm not carrying a gun. I won't hurt you."

Victoria did not necessarily believe that. She'd faced too many men who said that and then turned out to be trouble. She finally said, "Come in, Mr. Barton."

"Thank you," Barton said.

As Barton stepped through, Victoria began to close the door but said to Ciego, quietly, "Ride fast as you can to town and bring my sons back."

Ciego nodded and took off.

Audra had shown Barton to the living room, but Silas remained near Mrs. Barkley, waiting for anything she might want to say to him. She said, quietly, "Get a pistol from the library and wait just inside the doors over there. I'll yell if we need you."

Silas nodded and went to the library.

Victoria came into the living room. "Won't you sit down, Mr. Barton?" she said and motioned to one of the chairs near the fireplace as she and Audra sat on the settee.

"Thank you," Barton said and sat down. "Thank you for seeing me."

Victoria nodded, asking, "Now, what can we do for you?"

Barton took a deep breath and then sighed. "Believe me, Mother."